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I bought a new computer a few months ago, and as I am an audio fanatic, and the new SoundBlaster Live Platinum was out, I decided that I would stump up the extra cash and get one installed. When I got home, I plugged the computer in and connected up my speakers (via my sound system), and popped in a CD. Wow, I was absolutely amazed with the quality! I have used the card for editing music and the break-out box on the front of the computer has made this much easier. I can plug in my quitar, keyboard, CD-player, tape player, minidisc player, record player, television etc. and it copes with them all. The Steinberg Cubasis VST mixing package is useful although by no means the best package available on the market. I have created a couple of remixes and songs using the software, and have found that it can cope with very large WAV files. The games which accompanied the card are also well worth the money. Coupled with a good graphics card (such as an NVidia GeForce 2MX) and a decent spec computer, game play enters a new dimension! The sound quality just envelops you in the game, and even with a standard two speaker set-up you really get into a game. Overall, I think that this is one of the best sound cards on the market if you don`t want to move into the professional range, and I will never, ever go back to using a Creative PCI 64, which I had before!!

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At my college over the past few weeks we have been experimenting different things with a computer system, hopefully this will mean I can do some good detailed reviews for you to read over the next few weeks. Creative Labs took its fantastic Live! sound card and kicked it up a notch in an all new version called the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum. The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum comes with a ton of software that will let you do everything from playing MP3 files to recording your own tracks. It also includes a few games. Creative Labs ships the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum sound card with more than two-dozen software titles. The most intriguing aspect of this sound card, however, has nothing to do with the additional software or even the sound card itself. This package includes the Live! Drive. The Live! Drive slips into your computer's case like a CD-ROM drive and includes MIDI and composite connections for external audio components. The Live! Drive lets you connect audio components to the front of your computer, instead of fumbling around in the back. The Live! Platinum has an excellent signal to noise ratio of 100dB. Its polyphony (the number of sounds it can play at once) can reach over 1,000, using software and hardware voices. The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum also supports downloadable samples (DLS). As for application program interface (API) support, the Live! Platinum supports Microsoft Direct Sound, Direct Sound 3D, and Creative Lab's own EAX API. The sound card is compatible with Windows 9x and Windows NT 4. We tested the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum on a 300 megahertz (MHz) Pentium II system with 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM, running Windows 98. We also used Labtec's excellent LCS-2514 five-piece speaker system to get the most out of the Live! Platinum's 3-D positional audio abilities. Audio Test. For our first test, we loaded up one of our favorite CDs to check out the sound card's audio quality. We were very impressed with the sound reproduction. The bass and higher frequencies sounded excellent, and we didn't notice any background noise. Game Test. Next, we ran a popular game to test the 3-D audio ability of the Live! Platinum. We turned on the EAX sound setting in the game, which is designed to enhance 3-D audio. We were not disappointed with the results. The sound card delivered excellent 3-D effects, which always adds an extra bit of realism to a game. This is currently Creative Lab's top sound card, which is saying a lot. If you're a bona fide audiophile, this is your sound card. I tried to keep this not too technical, but I know at times the computer jargon did get a bit much, for which I am sorry. Jay

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I purchased the Soundblaster Live Platinum soundcard after I received a set of Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 speakers for christmas. I had brilliant sound quality just from the speakers but in my stupidity of youth I thought why the hell not make it even better, and how right I was. After installing the soundcard in a free PCI slot and placing the Live Drive in the front of my tower then connecting all the cables I was all set to start making some noise. I flicked the switches to get my pc in motion and like stated in the manual the card was detected and windows went about installing the drivers off the provided CD. But no I then got a error and couldnt do anything except restart the machine in safe mode. After consulting a friend it was determind that I needed to disable the original soundcard (an obvious thing to do now I think about it but not a mention anywhere in the supplied manual). All problems are now sorted and windows is chugging along as well as can be expected. There is a huge amount of software supplied with this product including games, music making software and loads of things to do with the soundcard (play center 2). You also get a microphone to use with the karaoke software (not for everyone no doubt). I havent had chance to test all these out yet but the games are great and certainly sound better. The only grip I do have is the amount of junk that was added to my system tray. I have removed it all now and everything still seems to be running fine. So to sound quality, I cant say I have noticed a huge amount of difference but that is probably because I have only been playing MP3's and games. The sounds are definatly crisper and you can choose the type of atmosphere you place yourself in with the edition of EAX (ie ally, bathroom, cave, city, the list goes on) but im sure if I were to pop in a DVD movie I would be convinced I was in a cinema such was the quality before the soundcard was introduced. So to c onclude. This is an expensive bit of kit at around £150 but if you are into games, DVDs, music etc and you want that bit extra from the type of sounds you are getting then the card is probably going to be worth your money.

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I build my own computers, mostly from cheap, refurbished, or hand-me-down parts from when friends upgrade their computers. My computer was using an ancient Sound Blaster 16 ISA AWE32 with Wave Table synthesis and two memory slots for 30-pin SIMMs. I was so happy to have sound in my machine. After systematically upgrading my system's essentials, it was time for the luxury goods, I played a lot of games and mp3s, and was starting to get into mixing music. I scoured the discount computer part circuits and found the best deal at the time for the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum at Buy.com. What great timing, since it was during an after Christmas special which they didn't charge for shipping. So they were the cheapest, no shipping, and no tax since they were out of state (I'm so proud of myself). I didn't just buy this item on a whim, I, just like you may be doing now, did a lot of research on it before making my decision. With all the sound -heavy activities I listed above, I felt this card would best suit my needs. Turns out I made the right choice, this card is amazing as you have probably gathered from other reviews. Installation was a snap, the only problem is that there is so much software on the Drivers and Applications CDs its hard to decide what you want to install at first. I had to halt the setup while I sifted through the users guide looking for descriptions of all the programs so I could better choose. Of course you can always uninstall individual programs, or install specific ones later. I definitely heard a major difference in sound quality, which isn't surprising considering the ancient relic I had for comparison. You can even have customized sound settings for each individual program, like if you're playing Quake, add an echo effect, or when playing mp3s add an Auditorium effect. The key to the card's excellent sound is in the onboard sound processor in the card. One concern I'd raise is for those of you trying to build your own high-end system, you may want to scrutinize this item in regards to power consumption. I can imagine a ridiculously fast processor, top of the line graphics card, and this sound card could be very power draining. The software the card came with is worth almost as much as the card cost, namely numerous games, sound environment settings, sound mixers, an mp3 encoder, and much much more. It also comes with a "Breakout Box" which is a 5.25" bay device with numerous input/output ports for music equipment. For example, I can plug my Bass Guitar into it and begin sampling my own music, then later with the software add effects and other instruments. You'll have to see a picture of the product to understand what I'm talking about. I can't praise this card enough, I felt it was worth every penny. I am at a loss though when I ponder how could future sound cards get any better than this, but I guess they will.

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This has to be the best soundcard available at the moment along with the other variations of the Live range like this one and the Live Platinum. The good thing with this card is that it is pretty cheap and can be picked up for around £45-00 and yet it supports things like quad surround sound which providing you buy the 4 point surround sound Creative speakers can enhance your gaming experience more than anything before. The quality of the sound when coupled with their 4 point speakers is unbelieveable. Especially in games like Half Life where it enables you to hear people sneaking up behind you and to either side also. It isn't just this thats so good about it because with the 4 point speakers you get a nice sub woofer which enables to really crank out some music at good volume with no distortion. There is no doubt and it has been known for some time that Creative without a doubt offer the best in soundcards and this just continues that tradition. You can expect to pay £20-00 for a reasonable soundcard now anyway, say a SoundBlaster PCI 128, so why not spend that extra £20-00 and go for the Live 1024, I can assure you you'll be glad that you did.

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This card installed in a breeze. Just plug it in and install the drivers, no problem whatsoever. Just a bit too much annoying software included in liveware but it's easy to get rid of. It sounds great, EAX (the 3d sound spec of Creative Labs) is fully supported by everyone except John Carmack (Quake). The livedrive is wonderful, it's so easier to connect headphones at night to the front of the pc rather than scatter round on the floor trying to find the correct connector. The quality optical out to minidisc is great as well. The little icons next to each connector at the back aren't really clear at first. And having them gold plated looks really nice and reduces distorsion. The box is just great. It comes with screws for the livedrive and all the necessary cables (one digital audio cable and one analog one).

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This sound card is from a well known soundcard manufacturer. And has yet to fail me with their sound quality. I would like to point out that this sound card works well with A creative Labs DXR3 MpegCard and Creative's Cambridge SoundWorks Desktop Theatre 5.1! More about the Card: PROS: Fast reliable and a good brand name. You get a front panal with lots of sockets, where you have your CDRom, which is so useful if you use a headphone or microphone as you dont have to fumble around the back of the PC to find the right socket, I have never seen anything like it! It sets up your sound to be used with games, music or DVD movies without you having to do anything and it is very good, the sound difference is very noticable. There is a new standard for games with this new EAX Technology, this sets up your sound card to use more than 2 speakers (if you have more than 2) to add effects you wouldnt normally hear and to feel more close to the game, Note your game must support this feature for it to be used, new games will, but some older games wont. When you listen to music you can make it sound as though you are in a concert hall and it does it surprisingly well as this is hard to do. You also get games to test! CONS: Hard to set up the sound quality but there is software which helps you. The software that comes with it (not including games) is very annoying and i dont recommend that you install any of them. These are companies trying to get you to buy the full version! You should only install the creative software. I did buy this at a trade price as i work in the trade area so i dont know what the retail price is sorry about that! You should see somewhere on this website (dooyoo) a 'where to buy' image with a trolly, that may help you. If you want more info www.soundblaster.com Thanks for reading. Hope this helps

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The Creative Sound Blaster Live Platinum comes with two games, software for the card, and two pieces of music software. The games aren’t bad either. The games are Alien versus Predator and Roll Cage. The music software is for the professional music maker. It also comes with a Live Drive. The Live Drive is a five and a half inch bay which you can plug external devices to it without having to go to the back of the computer. The microphone that comes with it isn’t too good – you might as well invest in a good one if you need it. The sound quality is great and the sound card is excellent value for money.

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I am a DJ. And i was interested in getting a new sound card that i could hook my decks into and start doing some digital manipulating! I came accross this card which in my opinion is great! You get a live drive which has MIDI, Auxillary mic and digital inputs and outputs on the front! A great sound card which use Enviromental Audio and makes it great to add effects to. And it also comes with some excellent software, such as Cubase and MixMan Studio! All of these features really make this one a winner with me and i am sure with many other Live Platinum Users

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If you're a sound enthusiast, and want top notch performance get the platinum live it`s awesome.The sound editing software is incredible. MIDI and SPDIF i/o ports make it a snap for cyber-musicians. The front jacks make everything easier - no more "reach-around" to plug in a headset combo. Plus, the front jacks are 1/4" stereo as opposed to the standard 1/8" jacks on most cards - and a stereo 1/4" to 1/8" converter is included. The card also supports 4-speaker surround sound with awesome positioning software, tons of needless effects and comes with a cheap PC microphone. Comes with 3 full version games, SoundForge XP 4.5, a synthesizer emulator, Cakewalk Express, MusicMatch Jukebox, etc. The software alone validates the price

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Lets face it not any people are really bothered about their soundcard. I had to invest in a new one earlier this year because my old one blew up! Fortunately I had £200 spare! I decided as I had nothing else to spend it on to invest iin a new top spec sound card. This cost me £169! It has two parts, one for the inside back of your PC and the other part goes in a 5.25" bay in the case. I have to say now using the best soundcard and comparing it to my old one it plays a dream. The volume goes to extreme lengths without loosing quality. It has all the features you need or want and supports all of the different sound modes in games. It may look ugly but it is well worth a look!

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The SoundBlaster Live Platinum is the latest in a long line of Creative SoundBlaster cards and this is the best one so far. Not only do you get a top of the range SoundBlaster Live soundcard but also included is the Live Drive II interface which is installed in an available 5 1/4 bay and provides connectors to all known audio equipment. There is a Digital In, Digital Out (both optical), SPDIF In, SPDIF Out (phono plugs), Aux In, Aux Out (phono plugs), Headphone and Microphone and Midi In and Midi Out connectors. All in all if you cant find what you need here you aren't going to get it anywhere. The most useful feature of this front panel is either, the optical in/out connectors which allow you to link up your minidisk player/recorder for MP3 ripping/recording or the headphone and mic offerings which allow you to connect a headset mic without having to reach around the back of the computer. When connecting the headphone the card automatically mutes any speakers you have connected. The software supplied with the card is second to none, including everything you need to be the next Paul Oakenfold or, if you're more classically inclined, compose an opera. There is an MP3 encoder and player, although the player isn't up to the standard of winamp. Another handy bit of software is the Creative Launcher which gives you access to all the software that comes with the card and also allows you to alter the attributes of whatever you want to listen to. Environmental Audio or EAX as some know it is the cornerstone of this card and with it the user can get a real feel from three dimensional audio. The environmental audio also allows you to change how the sounds are heard and to make a CD sound like it was recorded anywhere from an opera house to a bathroom or even a tin can. One setting which provided at least 5 minutes of entertainment is changing male voices to female, not only from pre-recorded sounds but also your own voice via t he mic. If you can afford this card it is easily the best on the market at the minute and the Live Drive connectors make it very easy to connect headphones etc without messing with the bundles of wires behind your machine. On the downside its damn expensive.